Over a billion smartphones enter the market every year. They’re everywhere, and users are finding new ways to leverage them every day. Mine is rarely more than 3 feet away from me, and I use it for everything from research, social “creeping”, and shopping to email, an alarm clock, and my camera. One of my biggest pet peeves is when things aren’t mobile compatible. As it turns out, I’m far from alone.

When it comes to websites, 61% of users won’t return to a site if they have a negative experience and 40% will go to a competitor’s site instead. Add on to that the statistic that 90% of all purchasing decisions begin with online research, and it’s understandable why appealing to mobile audiences has become so important. But doing so is very different than appealing to traditional web users.

On Halloween you expect to see costumes, candy, spooky decorations and….bacon?! Yes you read that correctly. At this morning’s Minneapolis and St. Paul Social Media Breakfast there was bacon. And bacon costumes. Several of the TopRank team opted for their own unique costumes like Gumby, Wayne (from Wayne’s World), a hunter, and Steve Jobs.

With the surge in apps with location-enabled features—Foursquare, Facebook, Yelp, Instagram, and Twitter to name a few—it’s no surprise that this month’s breakfast delved into best practices for incorporating location-based (or location-aware) apps a part of your social media strategy. Presenter Christopher Lower of Sterling Cross Communications used case studies & success stories to offer advice to attendees. Here are 16 key takeaways our team gleaned from the presentation: